South Atlantic Fishery Management Council

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC), headquartered in Charleston, S.C., is responsible for the conservation and management of fish stocks within the federal 200-mile limit of the Atlantic off the coasts of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and east Florida to Key West.

The Council consists of 17 total members made up of 13 voting members and four non-voting members to include:

The Southeast Regional Administrator of the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The directors or designees of the four South Atlantic state marine resource management agencies.

Eight citizens (two per state) of the southeastern states.

Non-voting members include representatives of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Coast Guard, State Department, and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.

Managed Fisheries

The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council currently manages eight fisheries. These fisheries include: coastal migratory pelagics, coral and live bottom habitat, dolphin and wahoo, golden crab, shrimp, snapper grouper, spiny lobster, and Sargassum. Of these eight fisheries, only one contains species that are considered overfished - snapper grouper. Both the recreational and commercial snapper grouper fisheries are highly regulated and progress continues to be made as more species are removed from the overfished list each year. The other six fisheries are expected to continue into the future at productive sustainable levels.